Joins Mayer In Scoring First Rolex Series Victory At Road America
Auberlen, Dalla Lana Win GT; Nunez, Miller Take GX Honors
Opportunity knocked for Brendon Hartley and the young New Zealander made the most of it on Saturday at Road America, joining Wisconsin driver Scott Mayer in winning the VISITFLORIDA.com Sports Car 250.
It was the first GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series victory for both drivers of the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport BMW/Riley. Hartley had shown flashes of brilliance through his rookie seasonwith the 23-year-old Formula One simulator development driver nearly winning at Circuit of The Americas before a late-race mistake.
This was an emotional win for me, Hartley said. Im not going to lieI had a lot of flashbacks to COTA. But I knew we had it covered, so I just brought it home.
The turn of events that put Hartley and Mayerof Franklin, Wis.in victory lane began with misfortune for Starworks teammates Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow, who won the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis in the No. 2 Soloson BMW/Riley. Dalziel lost his engine exiting the pits after a stop with one hour remaining and came to a stop at the exit of Turn 1bringing out the first caution of the race. Most of the remaining leaders pitted during a later cautionputting Hartley ahead to stay.
Hartley and Mayer completed 70 laps in the two-hour, 45-minute race on the 4.048-mile circuit, averaging 102.974 mph.
Action Express Racing finished second and third. Joao Barbosa finished 4.290 seconds behind Hartley in the No. 5 Corvette DP started by Christian Fittipaldi. Brothers Brian and Burt Frisselle took the final podium position in the No. 9 Corvette DP.
Polesitter Dane Cameron and co-driver Wayne Nonnamaker dominated much of the race in the No. 42 Team Sahlens BMW/Riley. Cameron broke an axle while leading on lap 54moments before the engine let go in Stephane Sarrazins No. 3 Corvette DP resulting in a spin to Wayne Nonnamaker in the No. 43 Team Sahlens BMW/Riley to bring out the final caution.
Max Angelelli took the lead in the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP started by Jordan Taylor when Cameron pulled off. Team owner Wayne Taylor was visibly upset when the final caution flag wavedknowing that Harley and the Action Express teammates did not need another pit stop.
Dalziel and Popow wound up 14th, trimming their Daytona Prototype points lead to four points over Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney (246-242), who finished eighth in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP.
Both the GT and GX classes featured lead changes in the final minutesand both winners came to a stop on the cooldown lap.
Bill Auberlen prevailed in a terrific battle with Patrick Long to join Paul Dalla Lana in winning GT in the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3, their third victory of the season. Long finished second in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3 started by Patrick Lindsey, followed by Michael Marsal and Maxime Martin in the No. 93 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 and Indianapolis winner Jeff Segal, who was joined by Ken Wilden in the No. 61 R. Ferri/AIM Motorsport Ferrari 458.
Andy Lally and John Potter finished fifth in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3, extending their lead in the GT standings to seven points over Robin Liddell and John Edwards (255-248), who finished eighth in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro.
Joel Miller led the final four laps to take his fourth GX victory in the No. 00 Visit Florida Racing/SpeedSource Mazda 6, joined by three-time winner Tristan Nunez. Points leader Jim Norman and Spencer Pumpelly finished second in the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman. Norman now leads Miller by 10 points, 297-287.
Auberlen ran out of fuel in Turn 5 after taking the checkered flag, while Miller came to a stop with a broken drive shaft.
Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge
Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi scored a dramatic victory in Saturdays Road America 200along with a huge step toward their first Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport driver championship.
Plumb passed Spencer Pumpelly for the lead when the latter pitted for fuel with four minutes remaining, and then nursed the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche Carrera for two more laps to the checkered flag. Nick Mancusolooking to give Aston Martin its first CTSCC victory in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Vantage started by Frank Montecalvomade up 10 seconds in the closing two laps but came up 1.932 seconds shy at the checkered flag.
Plumb and Longhi now hold a 54-point lead in the GS standings over Matt Bell and John Edwards, who finished 17th after battling back from early problems. It was Rum Bums third victory of the season, and 18th for Plumb and 15th for Longhi.
BJ Zacharias and polesitter Bryan Heitkotter finished third in the dominant No. 14 Doran Racing Nissan 370Z, followed by Pumpelly and Jim Norman. Mark Bodenseeking his third consecutive victoryfinished fifth with substitute driver David Donohue in the No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3.
The Street Tuner race also had a compelling finish when leader Tom Dyer ran out of fuel on the final lap in the No. 196 RSR Motorsports Honda Civic Si started by Andrew Novich. Gregory Liefooghe went on to win in the No. 81 BimmerWorld BMW 328i started from the pole by Tyler Cooke.
Jesse Combs and Jeff Mosing battled back from an early penalty for contact to finish second in the No. 56 RACE EPIC/Murillo BMW 328iunofficially taking a six-point lead in the ST championship.
Both the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge return to action next weekend with GRAND-AMs first visit to Kansas Speedway for Saturdays SFP Grand Prix.
